The Same Two Paths
by Angst Splatter
Summary: Leonardo's compulsive need to save Karai leads him into Bishop's lair. Perhaps that would be a little more bearable than Chaplin's nervous chatter, anyway.


Disclaimer: nope. Still not mine.

~TMNT~

Leo had the great urge to bury his face into his hands and scream. His red-headed companion behind him just wouldn't shut up. He was deeply regretting his decision to help the young scientist. It just didn't seem worth it anymore. He knew that he'd just end up getting hurt again.

But…

Leonardo sighed. "Chaplin!" His companion stopped chattering and looked at him quizzically. "We're doing this the ninja way. Shush," he put, as nicely as he could, turning his gaze back to the streets to look for his opening.

"Well, yes, I know that, but I think you're overlooking one thing. I'm not a ninja!" he squeaked out and Leo was tempted to just turn around and knock him out right there and then. "I know you are, and Mistress Karai is, but I'm not, and I just don't think we can do it this way. I was doing some research, and I think there's a better way. It'd involve you being out in public, but as a ninja, that wouldn't be too hard, would it?" the young man rambled, and Leo felt a very Raph-like growl work its way out of his throat.

Chaplin immediately silenced for a few blessedly nice seconds. "Are you okay? You don't sound too good; maybe you're getting a cold or something. Are you sure one of your other brothers couldn't do this? Or help us, or something?"

Leo delicately rubbed his temples as he stared up at the sky. He had to remember that Chaplin was just nervous. If he was honest with himself, Leo was nervous, too. There were better ways to be nervous than chatter more than Mikey, though.

Grounding his teeth, Leo stared back at the scientist, shushing him. "No," he said dryly, "none of my other brothers could help." _They'd kill me if they knew I was helping_, he couldn't help but think. "I'm fine. There's no way I'm walking out in broad daylight, so ninja or not, you will be doing this my way," he firmly stated, giving Chaplin his best you-will-listen-to-me glare that he had perfected with years of trying it on Raph.

It seemed it only worked for Raph, unfortunately, and even then, only sometimes. Chaplin stared at him for a moment, and then his lips quirked, and he started up again, while Leo fought the urge to smash in his face. That would be very Raph-like indeed, and Leo already had enough of Raph in his life without starting to act like him.

Attempting to block out the Foot scientist, he stared back across the street, wondering how he got himself into these things.

~TMNT~

_Past:_

Something hadn't felt right for days and the nagging feeling he got in the back of his skull whenever something bad was about to happen was nagging him full force. He went out for a training run to get it over with. These things always seemed to happen on a training run or fun group outing, and he opted to go on the training run in an attempt to keep his family safe.

He didn't have to wait long before he sensed Foot ninja stalking behind him. He smiled a grim smile and flew across the rooftops. The Foot had left his family alone for a while now. Karai had better things to do, apparently. He knew the peace wouldn't last for long, though, and both he and Raph had been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the Foot to give up on the peace.

Leo flipped over the edge of a tall building, making it look like he was to land on the shorter one. Instead, he stuck out an arm, caught the fire escape railing on the tall building, and swung under it, up the hole that held the ladder. He counted to ten and watched thirty Foot pass over without ever realizing he was there. Silent as ever, he shot off the ladder, landing a kick on the next Foot ninja who tried to jump the roof. He swung up on the building and found himself faced with thirty or so more.

He didn't bother to take out his katana, yet. These Foot ninja were no better, whereas he and his brothers had progressed far these past months, farther ahead of the inexperienced Foot than ever. He did a move that he'd never do in front of Mikey, because Mikey would call it break-dancing, and spun around on his hands, temporarily taking down five ninja.

They pressed in close, but didn't attack back. When he realized they weren't fighting back, he stopped, dropping into a loose defensive pose. "A message then? Well, deliver it before I get bored of waiting," he commanded. A wall of faceless black-clad bodies stared back at him. None stepped forward to deliver a message.

A faint whine sounded over the sound of the wind. "Wait, wait, wait. I'm coming!" he heard, and raised an eyebrow at the ninja surrounding him. The voice was vaguely familiar, but it definitely wasn't Karai, and she usually delivered messages herself or sent him a note.

He turned towards the sound – the fire escape – and watched as a flame of red hair appeared over the top, attached to the body of a young, rather lanky, young man. Ah, that annoying scientist that followed Karai around like Casey followed April around when she was set on ignoring him. What was his name again? Carrie? Conner? Chapstick?

"I'm Dr. Chaplin," the man said brightly (_ah, that was it; Chaplin_), brushing off his white lab coat (_who wore a labcoat up on a roof, anyway?_).

Leo did his best to look completely unimpressed, which wasn't hard, because he was completely unimpressed. A little confused, but unimpressed. "Lovely," he responded, only a bit sarcastic. "And you're here for?"

"Well, uh, you," Chaplin admitted. "Don't get the wrong idea, please!" he blurted out, when Leo's hands twitched. He must have correctly deduced Leo had been going for his katana. "I, uh, need your help." Leo nearly choked on his laughter. He ended up giving a strained cough, instead. "You see, Mistress Karai has been captured!" the boy looked wild-eyed and Leo peered closely at him.

His hair was sticking up at all ends and he could clearly see a rat's nest by Chaplin's ear. The scientist also sported rather large bags under his eyes and Leo realized that he was looking too lanky; probably hadn't eaten in ages. He was telling the truth it seemed. Someone had captured the woman he had an immense puppy dog crush on.

"And?" Leo asked, crossing his arms and adopting his so-what-pose that he often used to tick Raph off.

Chaplin's face visibly fell. No poker face. Made him easy to read. "Well, I was hoping you'd help me rescue her." Leo felt the Foot around him shifting. They didn't like this plan, but it seemed they were desperate enough to listen to Chaplin's plan in roping him in on this.

"Why? So she can go back to trying to kill my family?" he said it with no inflection, still not giving Chaplin the reaction he was hoping for.

"N-no," the man said, actually stuttering a little, his faith wavering in his hasty plan. "She hasn't attacked for a while, has she? I think…I think she doesn't want to?" Chaplin sounded meek. Meek and exhausted and, most of all, worried. For Karai.

Leo stared down Chaplin as the man silently pleaded with him. The Foot seemed to breathe as one and he nearly felt claustrophobic when they exhaled. He sauntered up to Chaplin. "Who took her?" Chaplin lit up for all of two seconds before he realized that wasn't a yes.

"Bishop," he choked out the man's name like it was a bad word.

"Why?" Leo asked, still unconvinced.

"Her father. And – you guys. He wants you," the man admitted. He had probably planned on keeping that secret. Bishop was a cunning and skilled man and to risk capture by his hands rescuing someone he was most likely torturing to be able to get to him? Completely stupid.

Leo huffed and Chaplin wilted.

Then again, when had he ever been smart when it came to Karai. He was at least as much like Karai as much as he was like Raph, if not more like Karai than he was like Raphael. In Karai he saw his failure – who he could have been if he had accepted Shredder's offer all those years ago, and he had this compulsive need to save her; to change her; to make her walk the same path as he had chosen. It made him endlessly frustrated that she couldn't follow him. It seemed this burning need hadn't ceased now that her father was gone and now that she seemed to be walking along a better path even without his help.

He couldn't tell his brothers. Raph would call him stupid and tie him down to his bed to stop him. Don and Mike would cheer Raph on. Don would probably supply some industrial strength rope. Mikey might throw food at him while he was tied up. He couldn't tell Splinter, either. Splinter didn't see his eldest in Karai; he saw the daughter of his greatest enemy, the daughter of the man who had killed his Master.

Leo sighed, and Chaplin took it the wrong way. Desperate, he started babbling, "I know you guys have had a rough past, but you keep helping her, and she keeps pulling away from you, and you guys haven't tried to kill each other in a while. And, well, I thought you might like to make sure she doesn't die, seeing that you like her and all…" Chaplin trailed off, his voice growing smaller and squeakier at Leo's growing glare.

Did everyone in the world think he had a crush on Karai? Ugh. That was like crushing on one of his brothers – or on April.

Resisting the urge to rub his temples, he spoke, staring so hard at Chaplin he thought the scientist might have wet himself. "We do this my way. Agreed?" he asked, but it wasn't a statement. And then he hurtled off the building, leaving Chaplin and the Foot behind.

He had to find out for himself. He played it cool for the next few days and his family never even suspected he had run into the Foot. A few days later, he went out for another training run. It felt wrong and dangerous to go spy on Bishop without his brothers, but he had to. For a man in a supposedly secret section of the government with a supposedly secret location, he was painfully easy to find.

He stared at the outside of the building for three hours. A few agents walked out, chatting as they left the building, hounding one guy on how lucky he felt to get to stand guard over that "hot, Japanese chick". That was all Leo had needed to assure himself that the nagging feeling in his head wasn't over something else. Bishop had Karai.

He loped off towards Foot Headquarters, easily slipping into the room where Saki, and now Karai, used to conduct his business. He had a feeling Chaplin had turned off the alarms for him. Stupid. He could kill him here and now and the man would never even know he had entered the building. Leo could immediately tell that Chaplin had drifted off in the chair behind the lone desk in the room. Probably hadn't been sleeping, trying to figure out how to get Karai back. Bad habit to wear yourself out so that you can't actually go through with the rescue.

Good thing the kid had asked for his help. He'd never be able to pull this off himself. Neither would the Foot, who would only follow his orders as long as he was telling them what they wanted to do. The Elite were no where to be found. Leo was both surprised and grateful. Surprised, because they might have actually been able to pull it off, and grateful, because he didn't think they'd take a temporary alliance with him to get their Mistress back.

He snorted at Chaplin, who jerked awake. He grinned deeply at seeing the turtle.

"Here's what we're going to do," Leo said, lying down a plan that Chaplin didn't like, because it didn't involve bursting in on Bishop right away. "Bishop wants me. We need to get in and out without him ever knowing I was there. This means the way of the ninja. Can you do that, or should I do this myself?" Leo asked, knowing full well Chaplin would demand to come in with him. Which was good, the part of the plan that he didn't tell Chaplin hinged on him being there.

Four days later, he set out on another training run without his brothers.

~TMNT~

_Back to present:_

The guards at the front doors of the building, posing as doorman, moved, walking off to the next set of doors. The next set of guards were usually there within seconds, but they had a few minutes, thanks to the diversion Leo had set up. Pills in their drinks. The guards for their own posts would come around and think they were sleeping. Sometimes Don scared him – he'd nicked the pills from Don's lab. The guards would wake up when the other guards called their names or shook them awake, and they'd hurry off to their new post, hoping no one told Bishop about the incident.

Without warning, Leo grabbed Chaplin's wrist and brought him in tight. The scientist shut up in shock, as Leo threw them both off the building, and hit the ground with an easy roll, as Chaplin gasped in shock. For working with a bunch of ninja's and being in love with the ninja master, he sure could be a baby.

As soon as he could, Leo uncurled from Chaplin, having not enjoyed that at all. He didn't let go of the boy's wrist, though, as he hurried them both inside. The donuts a few agents had brought in earlier were also dosed with the pills Leo had nicked from Don, and the lady at the desk should have been out thanks to them. As he had heard the guards telling each other in his little three hour spying session the other day, they found her smoking hot, and always brought her donuts or coffee back when they went out for some.

He and Chaplin slipped inside, where Leo immediately dropped the scientist's wrist. The red head was blessedly silent. It had finally sunk in that they were really doing this. Chaplin had tried to insist on using the Foot ninja in some way, but Leo hadn't even wanted them to know. There was no reason that once they got their Mistress they wouldn't just turn around and declare him captive.

Chaplin caught a glance of the woman at the desk, slumped over, slightly snoring. "How?" he asked disbelievingly, as Leo clamped a hand over his mouth, glaring as hard as he could.

"She's not dead," he whispered, as if that answered Chaplin's question. He fought what felt like the millionth sigh that night, and grabbed Chaplin's wrist again, dragging him to the elevator and calmly stepping into it before the guards outside finally arrived and peeked in to see him.

Leo whistled as he hit the floor three and floor four buttons. Chaplin stared quizzically at him, but didn't ask. They didn't actually know what floor Karai was on – Leo wasn't stupid enough to sneak in and figure that out beforehand; if he had thought he could get away with that, he would have done this all without Chaplin – which meant they'd have to search. Searching always went quicker if you split up.

The elevator gave a 'ding' as they reached the third floor. As he'd known, it was empty. For some reason Bishop always had a dummy floor. Some weird way that helped him feel less paranoid. For some odder reason, Leo had always been good at knowing which floor numbers these would be. He held the doors open for a moment as he partially stepped outside. "You search the fourth floor. I'll go back down and search floor two. Easier if I can start this way. You never know who will be on the other side of an elevator," and without he stepped out of the way of the doors, and they closed on Chaplin, who was saying something like:

"Wait? What! You can't leave me? Who's gonna be on the other side of the elevator doors?"

Leo felt a little bad for ditching the kid, but he'd be back for him. Actually, sooner than Chaplin thought. Leo had a feeling Karai wasn't on either the second or fourth floors, but rather the seventh, all the way at the top, where Bishop would be. Chaplin would continue with the original plan, and start searching every other floor, starting from the fourth, leaving the rest for Leo. However, Leo's little scare tactic had clearly worked. Mix that with the fact that Chaplin wasn't a ninja, and he'd attract attention right away. Hopefully Bishop's. The kid might get a little roughed up, but Bishop wouldn't kill him, especially if he blurted out that Leo had come with him.

He headed to the stairs, itching at his disguise and sticking near the walls. Bishop would know right away he was a turtle if he saw him on the cameras, but that just hinged on turtle luck. Raph may always say it like it was a bad thing, but Leo was actually pretty lucky in instances like these. Sure, there were plenty of times he wasn't lucky, like on his normal runs, but he was usually pretty lucky when it came to breaking into bad guys' places.

He flew up the stairs and listened to the activity behind the doors on each floor. Just as he reached the seventh floor, clinging to the ceiling in the shadow's, there was a flurry of activity. The doors to all the levels burst open and people shot forth, heading towards the fourth floor. _Perfect_, Leo thought, watching as Bishop calmly followed the seven agents who had rushed out of level seven. He had his tailored suit on and was wearing his glasses (_even inside, really, Bishop?_). Leo slipped through the door before it even closed, knowing Bishop hadn't noticed him.

There was still sounds of activity up here. They hadn't completely stupidly emptied out everyone to give him a free pass. Oh well, he hadn't expected them to. He stopped when he came to the room that was oddly silent. With a quick glance back at the hall door, he swung into the room, propelling himself up towards the ceiling to take quick stock of the situation.

Three guards were in the room. All of them tensed when Leo entered. Karai was in the middle, strapped to a table. All but her head was covered with a tarp, so he couldn't see her condition, but she was out and it didn't look like she was sleeping. Before the men could recover, he flipped down, knocking the first one out by hitting a pressure point. The second started to raise his gun, but Leo kicked it out of his hands, then snap kicked his face. The man's nose broke on contact, and Leo kicked out at his head again. He fell to the floor, unconscious. The third man was starting to fumble with his walkie, trying to call in to Bishop. Leo just swung around and punched him in the temple. He caught the radio before it could clatter to the floor, turning his back on the man as he thudded to the ground.

Leo cocked his head to the side. No sounds of surprise or footsteps coming to investigate. He still had time. He quietly whipped the tarp off Karai and winced. She was completely naked and cuts and stitches littered her body. She looked pale and weak. He'd never seen her once look weak. Leo struggled out of his clothes, undid her straps, and wrapped her in his clothes.

"Bishop to floor 7. I want all agents in 717, now! The lion has arrived," the radio crackled.

Oh. Haha. Leo. Lion. Bishop was so creative. He could hear the echo of the radios from the other rooms. He had about five seconds before the first person would finally react. Non-ninja's were so slow that way. He snatched the radio and bolted – there was no window, unfortunately – down the hall, and flew into the elevator. It was conveniently open for him. If he'd had more time to think, he'd have found that suspicious. He hit the button for floor six and readjusted Karai. She was small and thin but dead weight. Leo was used to carrying much more, so that wasn't really a worry, but it was a bit hard to fight while carrying someone, especially someone as out as Karai was.

He put his fingers to her neck and found a weak pulse. Thank goodness. The elevator 'dinged' and the doors opened to reveal three agents. "Whoops, wrong floor," he muttered, then sprung over their heads as the radio crackled again.

"The subject is gone from 717," a timid voice said. The agents standing at the elevator were, unfortunately smart, and were able to put two and two together. They spun, whipping out guns, and Leo felt like swearing.

Three shots went off in rapid succession, as one of them interrupted Bishop's stream of insults to briefly tell him "floor six". Two bullets hit his shell and rebounded off somewhere. The third badly missed. Leo slammed all his weight into the door, and jumped down the stairs. He just hoped this jostling wouldn't hurt Karai too much. He also hoped Chaplin would be able to carry her out of here. Looked like he was going to have to face Bishop.

Agents were coming through doors again, some stupid enough to shoot down the stairwell at them before their coworkers slapped that thought out of them, running after Leo, shouting into their radios so many details to their boss he couldn't have made any of it out.

Leo kicked the door to floor four open and bowled over two agents standing guard there. He came to a halt before Bishop, who was calmly holding a choking Chaplin by the throat. Chaplin already had a bruise blossoming on his cheek, along with who knew how many other injuries. His lab coat was sitting discarded in the entrance of a room. His hands were on Bishop's one hand as he steadily turned blue, gasping and wheezing.

"Hello, Leonardo," Bishop said calmly, looking at him over his sunglasses.

"Bishop," Leo nodded, shifting Karai, yet not putting her down.

"I knew you'd come," he said smugly, as his agents came bursting through the hall door and elevator, crowding into the hallway. Made things slightly harder, but if Chaplin remembered that this floor had windows he could escape with Karai out of, they'd be fine. "Your attachment to that one is quite…fascinating," he said, and Leo had the strong urge to break the man's jaw. Bishop did not also think he had a crush on Karai. This was too much.

So he ignored the remark, and nodded to Chaplin, instead. "You should probably ease up on his throat. Looks like he's going to die."

Bishop nearly smiled that insidious smile of his and loosened his grip up, just a bit. Chaplin tried to wheeze in more air, but he still looked pretty blue.

"How would you like to do this, Leonardo? You put down Karai, I'll put down Chaplin, and then we spar a bit so you can spare your dignity, before I overpower you and my men take you away and strap you to a table? I bet your father and brothers will come quickly. They'll fall into the same trap, I bet. You're all so alike," Bishop said. The rantings of a madman.

"Sure," Leo said, cocking his head to the side. Then he heaved Karai towards Bishop, but not really. The radio he had set on her stomach flew at the man's face as he deftly tossed Karai at Chaplin's lab coat. He'd already taken a mad dash down the stairs. Karai was strong; she'd live.

Bishop automatically let go of Chaplin to bat the radio away, and then Leo was on him, watching from the corner of his eye as Chaplin choked and gagged on the floor, pitifully trying to crawl his way over to Karai. Bishop's henchman stood by and did nothing. They did that a lot, really.

Leo tackled Bishop, and they did a roll together, before Bishop slithered out of his grasp, bringing his hands up to deliver a strike to his pressure points. Leo ducked away, kicking at the man's stomach. Bishop leaned into it and took the hit like he was water. Leo spun his foot around, and Bishop latched onto his leg, swinging down to kick at Leo's other leg.

He grunted at the hit, as he stomped his kicking let out, trying to smash Bishop under it, but Bishop rolled up and attempted an uppercut to Leo's jaw. His right arm immediately shot out, grabbing Bishop's wrist, attempting to turn it so it broke. Bishop turned with it, and shot his own leg up, again, towards Leo's jaw. With the flexibility his shell did allow him, Leo leaned out of the way of the kick, his left hand coming in to intercept Bishop's leg, as he grabbed and, once again, twisted.

In his peripheral vision, Chaplin was cradling Karai and actually had the audacity to cry over her. He was taking too long.

Bishop spun again, putting his whole body into spinning with his leg, as Leo brought him closer and kneed him in the abdomen. Bishop grunted and grabbed the edges of Leo's shell as he fell, forcing him to duck and roll. The roll ended with Bishop on top, but facing Leo's legs rather than his face. Leo brought up his leg to knee the agent in the face, but Bishop leaned back and slammed his forearm onto Leo's throat, choking him.

Leo bucked up, unbalancing Bishop, who rolled away in the opposite direction. He actually stood up straight and fixed his tie as Leo flipped up. This time Bishop took the offensive to start with, as he flipped forward and delivered a kick to Leo's stomach. Leo bent and head butted Bishop, burying his head into Bishop's abdomen, before straightening up, and dumping Bishop over his back, in the hopes he'd crack his head open. Bishop managed to twist is feet around and land on them instead, as he bent low and swung his feet at Leo's ankles.

Leo jumped up, over Bishop's leg. He delivered his own roundhouse, as the agent ducked under it, charging forward to tackle Leo, once again. There wasn't enough force to bowl him over, and he bent back at Bishop, now in a fight of the wills, as they tried to shove each other into the wall. Leo won and Bishop hit the wall with a crack, forced to straighten up or have his bones break there and then. His head flew back into the wall, and he raised up both feet, lashing out at Leo's abdomen. Leo was forced back a few minutes as Bishop brought his feet down and adopted a defensive pose to match Leonardo's.

Leo was vaguely aware that Chaplin was no longer sitting in the doorway. Neither was his coat or Karai. Finally. He just needed to give them a few minutes to get down the ladder and to the car. Maybe a few more than a few minutes, to give Chaplin time to carry the dead weight that was Karai.

Bishop stood staring at him and Leo charged, to keep him distracted, to keep him from noticing Karai and Chaplin were gone. Note that it really mattered much, he supposed. It was him Bishop wanted. Karai was just a casualty of Bishop's insane one-man war against anything and everything that wasn't human. Bishop evaded him easily, jumping up and away from him, and Leo played into the dance, blood and fight pounding in his ears. He swayed to the beat and shot a punch forward of Bishop. The man swayed back, leaning out of the way of his fist matrix style, kicking his own leg up, into Leo's arm.

Leo briefly wondered if he'd stored any of Karai's blood away for future use. Or if Bishop had injected her with anything; tried to make her inhuman. Leo took the hit, snaking his arm up to, once again, wrap around Bishop's leg. He forced Bishop further along the corridor, as the man ungracefully hopped where Leo led him, trying not to be obvious in the fact that he wanted to make a quick get away in a spot away from where Chaplin had made his. Leo shoved Bishop's leg forward, towards the man, as if to smack him with it, but Bishop popped up, bringing his other leg up to kick at Leonardo, too, letting his torso fall deftly to the ground. Leo caught both legs and swung the man into a wall.

Hoping he had given Chaplin enough time but itching to be away from the lab facility, Leo flipped away from Bishop and made for the window in the room he had positioned the fight in front of. He was vaguely aware of Bishop shouting orders to his men as gunfire filled the air around him. Without time to think about what was going on, he slammed his weight into the window. The glass broke and flew outwards, Leo following in its path, hoping he wouldn't cut himself up too badly in the landing.

He hit the ground and rolled, dashing off and out of sight, following the plan he had laid out for himself. The gunfire didn't follow him, but he could hear agents and scientists coming out of the building, on the hunt for him. He spied the van Chaplin had ordered the Foot to make ready. It wasn't started, which Leo didn't like, but he also hadn't spied Chaplin on his way to the van, so that was a good sign. Hew practically flew into the back of the van when he saw the doors were open.

Flinging himself in, he nearly hit the red-headed man. Chaplin was fussing over Karai, uselessly checking and re-checking her vitals over and over again. "It'd be too easy to kill you like this," Leo growled out, not feeling particularly nice at the moment. Chaplin started, just like Leo knew he would.

"I- She-" Chaplin stammered, unable to explain his behavior, grief already lining his eyes. He obviously hadn't thought it would be this bad. Although he worked for a ninja in a ninja clan, it wasn't often Karai got hurt. He probably didn't have any friends there, so he didn't know the worry of his brothers coming back, beat up, some dead.

Leo didn't have time for Chaplin's naivety in these matters. If they waited around too long or made stupid mistakes like leaving the van doors hanging wide open, Leo would end up in Bishop's hands, and he did _not_ want that. "Get in the front and drive," he ordered quietly and harshly, with the voice he used on Raphael when Raph was being stubborn and didn't want to listen. Thankfully, Chaplin shut up and came to his senses enough to rush out of the back and pop in the front. That, or even he could tell Leo was feeling a bit murderous towards him. The van rumbled to life and Leo slammed the back doors closed, taking vigil over Karai.

He felt the van lurch forward and growled, hoping Chaplin could play getaway driver well enough not to get them killed. Leo took Karai's pulse. His big, green, meaty fingers had never seemed so large and ungainly to him before. Karai was slim, small and sickly from being starved and tortured by Bishop. Her fingers were small and frail and he felt as if her wrist would break beneath his behemoth hands.

He found her weak, erratic pulse and breathed out in relief. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath. He stroked her cheek as gently as he could, and looked down at her pale face. A flicker of pain flashed across his face. "Oh, Karai," he said, voice husky and low. "What will happen to you now?" Leo couldn't help but wonder what this would do to her bloodlust. What would happen to his if he had been put in her situation? Tortured to lure in someone you couldn't hate but also didn't particularly like?

Leo stayed knelt over her still body for the whole ride, keeping her still and safe over the bumps and turns that Chaplin hastily made in an effort to get back to headquarters, back to doctors who could help her better than either of them could. Leo barely even realized they had arrived until Chaplin was throwing the van doors open again.

"How is she?" Chaplin asked. Leo hadn't heard him sound so quiet and broken this whole time.

"Alive," he answered simply, effortlessly picking Karai up. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to leave; he couldn't walk into Foot Headquarters carrying the seemingly lifeless body of the Mistress of a whole hoard of ninjas.

But he couldn't leave either. He had to make sure Karai made it through this, at least, though he didn't plan on sticking around until she woke up. He needed to see that her clan would treat her well and nurse her back to health. He needed to see he hadn't failed her. That the other part of him, the part of him that could have been, would make it through this a better person than before. When it came to Karai, it was hard for him to walk away; it was like accepting his failure. He couldn't do that until he had worked on bettering himself.

So he simply hopped out of the van and motioned for Chaplin to lead the way. Chaplin wrung his hands together, staring at Leo in an expression Leo couldn't quite read, before turning around and rushing into the building, leading Leo through an impossible series of mazes and hallways that soon had him feeling dizzy. They met no one on the way, but there were several doctors and ninja waiting in the room Chaplin finally burst into. They had set up a sick bay for her.

The ninja jumped to their feet when they saw him. The plan had been for him to get in and out with Karai and let Chaplin handle it from there. They weren't expecting him here. He twitched slightly in reflex, wanting to pull his katana out and face these men.

But Karai was more important, so he ignored them, as Chaplin shakily ordered them to stand down. He set Karai down on the bed and was roughly shoved away by the Foot doctors.

"Out, all of you out!" one of them looked up long enough to given an order to them before he set to work looking over Karai again. Leo had been ordered that very same thing by Donatello enough times to know to listen to it. He turned and grabbed Chaplin, who had no intention of leaving, dragging him out of there with the Foot following. Even with their masks on, he could feel their stares at his back as they took up guard outside the door.

"No! We can't leave her!" Chaplin was screaming hysterically. "What if something happens? We have to be in there!" and then he was crying, tears streaming out of his big, innocent eyes. He choked on his words and crumpled into Leonardo. Leo froze in shock. His brothers rarely did this; he had not been expecting Chaplin to cry on him. He awkwardly patted the young man's shoulder, feeling the Foot gazes bore into him even stronger. It was hard not to turn around and knock them out, but he knew that would be a stupid plan.

"Uh, listen," Leo started, suddenly not so sure of himself anymore. "If anything happens, they'll let you know. They need you out to work, though. Being in there will make everything worse. Trust me," he rambled, briefly flashing back to the first time one of them – Mikey – had taken a serious hit and they'd brought him back unconscious. Donnie had been a nervous wreck; he wasn't used to taking charge and neither he nor Raph had listened to Don order them to leave. They'd stayed and watched and made poor Don even more nervous, which made both of them more nervous, which made Don more nervous, which made them more nervous. It was a vicious cycle and not one that any of them needed to go through again. It had been much relief for their Master to come flying in, ordering them out, taking charge and guiding Don through what had to be done. Things had gone much more smoothly then, and the nervous air in the liar had dissipated greatly. Mikey had woken up just half an hour later, already making bad jokes about what had happened.

Chaplin sniffled in Leo's shoulder, and Leo grimaced at the thought of Chaplin snot. For the first time that night, he was truly grateful he was still wearing his disguise. "Do you have a cafeteria here?" Leo asked, just needing to get Chaplin away from the room and his guilt and to somewhere he could distract him. He didn't know Chaplin like he knew his brothers, but Chaplin reminded him of both Don and Mikey, and he could take both of them to the kitchen for cheering up, so that's what he did with Chaplin.

The scientist nodded and had the good grace to look embarrassed at having cried on his Mistress' greatest enemy. He mumbled something Leo was unable to make out and then started wandering back down the hall. Leo was only too happy to get away from the ninjas trying to stare a hole into the back of his head. He just hoped the cafeteria would be empty.

As luck would have it, the cafeteria wasn't empty, but it was close enough. A handful of ninja were lounging there and all talk stopped as Leo walked in behind Chaplin. They stared at him in disbelief. He did his best to ignore them. One had actually pulled out a katana, though he didn't advance. Chaplin ignored the food, probably cold by now, and plopped himself down in a chair, letting it make a horrible grating sound as it was shoved across the floor.

Leo took a more ninja and silent approach to sitting. The ninja simultaneously got up and marched out, without giving him a backwards glance. He thanked whoever was responsible for small miracles.

"Will she die?" Chaplin squeaked out, as the tears started falling again.

Leo looked deeply at Chaplin until the man looked up and got caught in his gaze, brokenly staring into his eyes. "I don't think so," Leo finally said, "but I'm not a doctor, so don't take my word on it." Why was he being so cruel? Why had he said that last part? Chaplin was just a scientist who had taken up a good opportunity and fallen in love with his employer. He never actually had a hand in trying to kill any of his brothers or him. Leo sighed and realized he probably needed to get out more. "I'm sorry," he said, softening his tone. "No, I do not think she will die. She is strong and has lived thus far. She will keep living, if not just to kill Bishop for the way he mistreated her."

Chaplin shuddered and sank down a little in his chair. He squeezed his eyes shut, and reached up to remove his glasses, placing them on the table. He sighed deeply. "She is not vengeful like her father," he murmured after a moment. It was said defensively. Chaplin saw more good in her than Leo did.

"You're right," Leo swallowed. "But she does let anger cloud her mind sometimes."

"We all do," Chaplin replied, rubbing at his throat.

"Do you need a doctor?" Leo asked, peering at the bruises the man was already spouting. Chaplin shook his head no. He wouldn't seen anyone until he knew Karai was alright. It was the same thing his brothers and he all did when one of them was seriously hurt. Leo lapsed into silence again, studying the young man, whose eyes were still closed.

Grief, anger, and fatigue were all clearly etched upon his face. They laid heavily on every action he did. Confusion and hate and fear were a little harder to read, but they permeated the air and made the mood tense. He had bruises on his throat from where Bishop had held him in up in a vice grip. Chaplin hadn't put his coat back on and the bruises on his arm were clearly beginning to show, too. His right arm was crusted over in blood. He was roughed up, but he would live. He would live as long as Karai did. Leo wasn't sure what he would do if Karai didn't.

"Do you need a doctor?" Chaplin finally asked, snapping his eyes open and looking Leo over. Leo hadn't even taken stock of his own injuries yet, but just like when one of his brothers was hurt, it felt wrong to even care before he knew if she'd be okay.

"No," he answered automatically.

"You're bleeding!" Chaplin said, pointing to Leo's arm.

Leo didn't even glance down. He could feel the burning. Probably grazed by a bullet. "So are you," he pointed out, nodding at Chaplin's arm. Chaplin looked down at it in shock. He poked around at the injury, and then sat back in his chair, tired and worried.

"Touché," he said, his eyes still roaming over Leo, though it would be hard for him to tell anything else while Leo still wore his disguise. Besides, he didn't feel too bad for having just gone a round with Bishop. He'd live, even if he had to shamefully lie to Don and tell him he'd gotten in a fight with the Purple Dragons and been a little roughed up. Sensei would force him to do flips once he was sure his son was okay and do some extra chores for a week while he wasn't allowed out of the lair for endangering himself so. Donnie would recognize a bullet graze right away.

Leo found it a little unfair that Raph was never punished like that for sneaking out, but Leo was the oldest, and it was natural Splinter would be tougher on him. That and his brother and he were different people and needed to be treated differently, anyway.

"Why did you do it?" Chaplin finally spoke up again.

Leo looked up sharply, jolted out of his thoughts. "Do what?"

"Say yes. Rescue Karai."

He felt like lying. Chaplin was young and not a ninja, but Leo was, and he didn't feel it safe to tell the truth. "I guess I have kind of a compulsion for saving others, especially Karai." Wait – hadn't he meant to lie?

Chaplin nodded and made a small noise in the back of his throat. "Do you –" he started, and then stopped. He shuddered and gulped in another breath. "Do you love her?" he squeaked out, seemingly shrinking in his chair as he said it.

Leo nearly laughed out loud, but the situation was entirely too somber for that, and Chaplin wouldn't understand like his brothers did. That, and he was tired of everyone thinking he had a giant crush on his enemies daughter. "No," he said bluntly and harshly, finding it hard to control his temper again. "Not like you do," he added, flinching as Chaplin recoiled at his earlier harshness. The kid was already stressed enough; he didn't need to be making it harder on him.

"I don't –" Chaplin started, then wilted under Leo's arched brow.

"I love Karai like I love me," Leo said. It sounded weird to his own ears. "What I mean is…" He struggled for the words he needed. "Karai and I walk the same path, but it brought us to very different places. It's hard to see the place it brought her and not want to walk her down my path, especially seeing how our paths were really the same," he prattled on. It didn't make sense, so he just stopped.

Chaplin was staring at him, confused. "You feel sorry for Karai," he stated. It wasn't really true, but it was easier than explaining what he really meant, so he just nodded. "I do too," Chaplin said, and Leo wondered just how much he knew about her father. "But she doesn't like that. I think that's why she doesn't really like me," he admitted and Leo felt himself feeling sorry for the young man. Chaplin seemed to deeply and strongly care about Karai, but she seemed to only be annoyed by the young scientist.

"I think," he started, wondering if he should finish, going on, regardless, "that she just doesn't know any other way. I mean, her father…" he trailed off. Leo didn't have to explain.

"Maybe," Chaplin granted him, though he still seemed disbelieving. It must be hard to love someone who you thought hated you. It was hard enough just trying to help someone who probably hated you, as he well knew. "But she's not like that with everyone," he said, glancing up at Leo, the obvious implication hanging in the air.

Leo nearly gaped at him. "She ran me through with my own sword," he said, a hard edge to his voice. The Ancient One had helped him come to terms with what had happened and to deal with his anger, but he could never fully accept what had happened that day. What Karai had shown herself capable of that day.

Chaplin's eyes widened. He hadn't known that. He gaped for words, probably wanting to tell Leo that he wouldn't have asked him to help if he'd known that. "I'm sorry," is what came out, instead.

"You're not the one who needs to be," Leo said, looking away and staring at dirt spot on the wall.

They sat in silence for a long time after that. Chaplin kept opening and closing his mouth, as if he wanted to say something and fix it all, but he ended up just closing his mouth again each time, saying nothing.

But the boy just couldn't let it sit. It wasn't in his nature. "I'm sure she had a reason," he said, and Leo nearly snorted, but that wouldn't have been very ninja-like.

"I'm sure," he curtly admitted. He had a lot he wanted to say to that, but it would just make old wounds fester in his soul again, and Chaplin would never stop thinking the world of Karai, anyway, so it was useless to fill his head with all the horrible things that he was thinking at the moment.

"And I'm sure she regrets it now," he said softly. "Maybe that's why she's stopped going after you."

"I'm not so sure of that," Leo said, meaning that she had given up going after his brother's and he.

"I think she sees the same thing in herself that you see in her," Chaplin said. Leo didn't think Chaplin actually knew what he was saying, because there was no way he could have made sense of Leo's ramblings earlier. "I think…she's just jealous of you," Chaplin said, staring up at the ceiling, knowing he probably shouldn't be saying any of this. "Your father loves you and treats you like he does. Hers was a psychopath that was just using her."

Leo nodded his assent.

"It was hard for her, every time she turned down your offers to help her and house her."

This time Leo really did stare in shock. How did Chaplin know of those offers?

They sat in silence for a while more. This time Leo felt like the fish, his mouth gaping open and snapping it shut when he realized he didn't know what to say.

"She talks in her sleep," Chaplin supplied for him.

Leo couldn't help blurting out, "you watch her sleep?"

Chaplin blushed. "N-no, not like that. When she comes back with injuries, I sit with her, and she often talks in her sleep," he admitted, face blushing deeply.

Leo nodded his acceptance, though he couldn't picture Karai ever coming back injured enough to sleep in a room with Chaplin present. He didn't voice his disbelief, though. "I'm sorry," Leo sighed. Chaplin stared at him in confusion, obviously not expecting the apology. "I've been short with you this evening. I usually have much more patience, and my behavior was unacceptable towards you. I did not tell you my whole plan, because I didn't trust you, just because you worked for Karai. I let you get hurt by Bishop's hands. I snapped at you and treated you with disrespect many times tonight. My behavior is inexcusable. To take a civilian into a building and let them become injured is not okay. I should have stepped back from my anger and seen you for who you are, rather than as just another member of the Foot, who attempt to kill me on orders and prejudice. And, to be honest, I was scared for the fate of Karai. But that is no excuse," he admitted, looking the man deep into the eyes. Chaplin was a genuine man, a good man, and Leo had led him to Bishop knowing Chaplin would walk away injured. He was supposed to be a better leader than that. Apparently his time in Central America had taught him nothing.

Chaplin stared at him and nodded his acceptance. Once again, Leo found he couldn't read the man's face or reaction, and so he sat in a shameful silence. Chaplin didn't speak up again, either. Leo heard the doctor way before he entered the cafeteria, but Chaplin must not have, because he jumped up when he finally saw the man, and rushed to him.

"Is she –" he couldn't even finish his sentence. Leo wondered if he would have finished with "okay" or "dead".

The doctor held up a hand to Chaplin, and then pointed at Leo. "What is that freak doing here?" he spat out. Leo immediately stiffened. He stared at the man.

"He is waiting to hear news of Karai," Leo growled out, his patience nearing its last strand. He'd been through enough tonight and just spent the last hour or more in a Foot building talking to a man in love with a woman who might still want to kill him. "What news do you bring?" he asked, standing up, as tall and imposing as he could make himself.

"It's okay," Chaplin quickly said, putting his hands on the doctor's chest, trying to stop the fight before it came to blows.

The doctor was a Foot tech; Leo vaguely recognized his face from a time a while ago when the invisible ninjas had attacked his brothers and him and Mikey had managed to tear off his mask and cloaking device.

The doctor ignored Chaplin, easily brushing him aside, as he faced Leonardo. "The Mistress' state is none of your affair, _freak_," he spat out, putting extra malice into the word freak. Leo's eyes narrowed as he willed lasers to fire out of them and cut the man in half. "I demand you leave, or I will order the clan to attack," he said, superiority in his tone and posture. The clan would listen to him, too, and ignore whatever Chaplin told them.

Chaplin stood there uselessly, not knowing what to do. Leo was stiff and tense, but he recognized that the threat wasn't empty, and he would already be in enough trouble with his family as it was. He fought the urge to snarl at the Foot tech. He stepped to the side, brought his hands together, and bowed deeply to Chaplin. "I apologize again. I shall leave you now, to tend to your Mistress," he said. He felt the urge to tell Chaplin that he was in his debt, but he didn't want to do so in front of the Foot tech.

Leo did the nicest thing he could for Chaplin; he walked to the window, flung it open, and jumped out of it. With him gone, the tech would finally give him news on Karai's well being. He could have easily clung outside the window and eavesdropped, but he didn't feel it necessary. If Karai had died, the ninja would have attacked him then and there, without question. As he knew, Karai was still alive. He suspected she would stay that way for years to come.


End file.
